| dc.description.abstract | Over the millennia, and in different churches, there has been confusion over
the role of the pastoral leader. The Seventh-day Adventist pastoral leaders have not
been immune from this phenomenon. Sometimes viewed as evangelist-pastor and
church administrators, many pastors have suffered from vocational stress, as a result.
After studying spiritual gifts as well as the shepherd or pastor metaphor that
the Bible refers to, the researcher developed integral pastoral leadership model. During
his tenure as a district pastor of Central Peninsula II from 2010 to 2012, its strategy was
implemented in all its four facets, and improvements were incorporated along the way.
While the researcher has not “done the work of the evangelist,” in terms of reaching
people outside the church, the multi-congregation district grew by thirteen per cent
during the period under review. This model entailed a comprehensive pastoral strategy
for the churches involved. Over the three years of his tenure in the district, the model has been annually reviewed and modified as feedback and new ideas came from the
church leaders the researcher worked with.
The researcher developed a pastoral leadership theology framework that served as
a basis for the pastoral programme. At the end of the tenure, the following participants
were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of this pastoral leadership strategy:
1. 25 elders that went through the programme between 2010 and 2012
2. 14 student pastors that were mentored with this model between 2010 and 2012
3. One of the 14 students who implemented it in a neighbouring district as well as
in the researchers’ previous district from the beginning of 2013
4. The researchers’ pastoral colleagues in pastoral ministry in the Cape
Conference, Transvaal Conference, Trans-Orange Conference, Southern Africa
Union Conference, Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division, professors in
pastoral theology at Helderberg College, Andrews University, Adventist
University of Africa, Oakwood University and other part of the church
organisation.
Observable benefits include positive feedback wherever the programme was
implemented as well as interest from other district pastors who would like to implement
the integral pastoral system, in part or as a whole. | en_US |
